To Poolish or Not To Poolish

[tino27]

Perhaps a few of you bakers out there more experienced than I can lend an opinion or two.

The Setup

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I'm a home baker and I've really been working on my bread making skills these last few months. I've acquired and read (and re-read) both the BBA by Reinhart and The Bread Bible by RLB. Up until last night, all of my bread recipes have been via the Direct method. So yesterday I decided that I must at some point venture into the territory of the pre-ferment, I took the plunge. Based on what I read in the Bread Bible, I decided to do a poolish using 1/2 of the water in my recipe and a little under 1/3 of the flour. First, here is the pre-poolish recipe I've been using ...

165 g Spelt flour

660 g Unbleached bread flour

495 g Water

5.5 g Instant Yeast

50 g Flaxseed meal (both for flavor and because it's good for you)

Spelt flour is approx. 20% of total flour

Dough is approx. a 60% hydration level

Instant Yeast is approx. 0.67% of total weight (approx 2% with fresh yeast)

Figuring that I wanted to maximize the spelt flavor, the poolish I made is as follows

165 g Spelt flour

85 g Bread Flour

1.5 g Instant Yeast

250 g Water

I mix it up, let it sit out for 12 hours (I have a 60 deg F kitchen), then refrigerated it for another 12 hours (mostly for convenience). At the end of that refrigeration (plus 1 hour to remove the chill), it looks like this ...

It has a nice flour-y smell and there has clearly been activity (all the little bubble holes).

So, I mix in the remaining amounts of ingredients from the master recipe and go through my standard knead/ferment/punch-down/shape/proof steps. The great news is that I got a lovely ovenspring.

The bad news is that both loaves split where they shouldn't have ...

And finally, an interior of the loaf ...

The Questions

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1) My primary question is ... when I finally went to taste the bread this morning, I guess I was expecting to be BLOWN away by the awesome flavor that the poolish was supposed to lend to the bread. While the bread was quite good, the difference in flavor between poolished and non-poolished versions of the bread are V - E - R - Y small. Am I setting my expectations too high? Perhaps my palate isn't sufficiently trained to tell the difference yet?

2) I know the loaves look a little light in color and I'm working on correcting that. However, the sides of both loaves getting blown out is a little troubling. Any thoughts on how I could correct that? I used the "two envelopes and folding the dough over thumbs technique" to shape the dough (a la batards). Perhaps I could've used a different type of slash to help alleviate the pressure? Maybe scored it a little deeper?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[jackal10]

Poolish is mostly about the yeast flavours. Doesn't do much for grain flavour. Its more important for sourdough as it lets the lactobacillus develop flavour.

Helps a bit with instant yeast - less of the "instant" flavour, but not a lot.

If you want a more pronounced flavour of the grain mix the flour with the water for 24 hours beforehand. Personally I'd increase the proportion of the Spelt flour. I make a 100% spelt loaf and its very nice.

Thus a modified recipe:

Poolish:

250g bread flour

250g water

1.5g instant yeast

mix, put in fridge for 12 hours, then ferement at room temperature for 12 hours.

Soaker:

165g Spelt flour

410g Bread flour

445g water

13g salt (was this omitted from the original?)

Mix and leave in fridge.

Dough:

Mix poolish and soaker, then proceed as normal. However allow time for them to warm up.

I don't think you slashed deep enough, and you should slash more parallel to the length of the loaf, rather than across the loaf. Also at 60% your dough is quite stiff. You could increase the water to 66%, another 50g of water.

[tino27]

Thanks for the response, Jackal.

You're absolutely right, I forgot to list the salt in the original recipe -- it was 17 g of salt, again, about 2% of total flour weight.

I read over your response and I am definitely going to be trying out your suggestions. Couple of questions for you, however.

1) I noticed that you used my proportions for the poolish (1.5 g of instant yeast, 250 ml/g of water and flour each), but in the soaker, you have no additional yeast added. Will the 1.5 g of instant yeast in the poolish be enough to raise the final dough sufficiently?

2) Should I mix both the poolish and the soaker at the same time (different bowls, obviously) and stick them both in the fridge (and then pull out the poolish 12 hours later)? Or does the soaker only need a few hours of refrigeration?

3) I'm guessing the point of a soaker is to extract as much flavor from the grain as possible. But why chill the soaker if it has no yeast? Would it go bad if it sat out on the counter for 12-24 hours?

4) I've been adding the salt towards the end of my kneading process (I read that somewhere in a book) instead of during the mixing process. Should I continue to do that or proceed as you suggested and add it directly to the soaker?

Thanks in advance. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me.

[Catherine Iino]

To avoid the loaves blowing out like that, try proofing them a little longer before you bake them; the blowing out can be the result of too much oven spring.

I do think the poolish step makes a big difference. You may notice it more if you make a few batches with the poolish and then try going back to straight dough. If I switch to some new, better quality product or technique, I often don't really notice much difference until I try going back to the former item. For example, in the last year I started buying eggs from a neighbor who keeps chickens--much fresher, yellower, and tastier than store-bought. At first, it didn't seem to make a big difference to me, but when I used supermarket eggs again, everything I made with them tasted flat. Same with good, nonultrapasteurized cream. Be careful what you upgrade; you may be making a long-term commitment!

[jackal10]

I put the soaker in the fridge to guard against it beginning to ferment. My kitchen hygiene isn't perfect, and there is probably enough yeast blowing blowing about or in the flour to start fermenting. After all, that is how you capture a wild starter....

There is more than enough yeast in the poolish for the bread. Adding yeast to the dough is a bit pointless, and maybe why you got less developed yeast flavour.

People leave the salt out for half an hour "autolyse" since salt adversely affects certain enzymes that convert the starch to sugar for the yeast to feed on. Personally I've never found it makes much difference when you use a poolish, since However you are adding all that saltless well developed poolish. Its easier to add it at he beginning; I've often forgotten it at the end and have to remix.

[Brioche57]

Tino - please invest in a copy of The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz. You won't be sorry.

[tino27]

Brioche - Next time I'm in Barnes & Noble, I'll check it out. I've heard reference to that title before, but between the BBA and the Bread Bible, I've had lots to digest (sorry, no pun intended). Jackal has already given me some new info that I'm going to go back to my kitchen and try out.

The lovely part about all of this is that even if the bread isn't turning out 100% the way I want it to, it is still quite delicious and much better than anything you can get at the grocery store. My flatmate certainly doesn't seem to be complaining very much.